Seeking a Hacker
by Aerilon452
Summary: Sharon is now on the hunt for Stroh, but she enlists help from someone she used to know. It's not just the life of her son in the balance, but that of her squad, and Andy.
1. Chapter 1

**Summary:** Sharon seeks out someone who can help locate Stroh.

**Disclaimer:** I own nothing of MAJOR CRIMES.

**Rating:** T

**Pairing:** Sharon and Andy

**SEEKING A HACKER:**

Sharon stood in front of Andy, she didn't care that people were around, that her squad was just beyond a door. Her hands were shaking, her heart was breaking with the knowledge that he son was in danger and there was nothing she could do. "Andy..." Sharon's voice quivered.

"Sharon, what's wrong?" Andy asked seeing the anguish in her eyes. She said nothing more than his name before she walked to him and wrapped her arms around him. He froze for a moment, shocked that she would embrace him in such a manner in the place where they worked. Andy wrapped his left arm across her back and used his right hand to cup the back of her head. "It's ok, I'm here." He muttered holding her.

Sharon couldn't stop shaking, no matter the warm weight of Andy's arms around her. She couldn't stop. "Tighter, hold me tighter." He heeded her words, his strong arms tightening on her. She dug her fingers into his jacket trying to get her whole body under control. Andy was helping, but not enough.

Andy watched the hall, watched the people who walked the halls without giving them a second thought. He rested his cheek on top of her head giving her all the time she needed until she was comfortable in letting go. Until then, Andy was holding her as tightly as she wanted, and in this he was finding some measure of comfort as well. These last few days had worn on them all.

Provenza opened the door to the Major Crimes squad room coming face to face with Andy and Sharon hugging in the middle of the hall. He was about to call out when Andy looked at him, there was a warning in his gaze. Then, he took a good look at the Captain. Her face was buried in the crook of Flynn's neck, her knuckles were white with how tightly she was holding him. Normally, Provenza would have blown this way out of proportion, but seeing what he was seeing, he knew better than to say anything. Instead, he held up his hands, and turned back to the murder room.

Andy thought for certain that Provenza would have made some horrible fuss about what he was seeing, that Sharon would pull away from him and she would close herself off to him. He was more than pleased, surprised, that his partner turned right around and left them to their moment. There were so many false promises he could make, so many words that he could use, but he didn't. All he could do was keep a grip on her.

Sharon kept her eyes closed, her fingers dug in Andy's jacket for fear of the world crumbling under her feet. So many things were happening that she had no control over. Rusty knew his life was in danger, knew that Stroh was out and on the run, and there was the very real possibility that either she or Rusty could be his next victims. That thought didn't sit too well with her. Sharon was the victim of no one. She was an LAPD Captain. Still the ill feeling settled in her gut, refusing to be banished. "We're going to find Stroh, right?" Sharon pulled back, looking up at Andy.

"You know we will." Andy replied as quickly as he could and with as much confidence as he could. He wanted nothing more than to reassure her. He kept his hands on her shoulders, "That freak won't get Rusty, and he won't get near you." It had be the other reason she was shaken to her core. Sharon would have to be in deep denial not to consider that, and he knew her to consider everything. "I'd shoot him before I'd let him harm you or Rusty."

Sharon smiled bringing her hand up to cup his face letting the rest of the world fall away. "I know, I know you would." Just hearing him say he would be there made her feel better, it made her feel something she'd not felt in a long time. "Right now, as much as I hate it, the next move belongs to Stroh." Sharon said dropping her hand and taking a step back.

"Not if we have something to say about it." Andy replied, "We can get his face out to every police agency up and down the coat, down to the boarder and further." All he wanted at the moment was to reassure her no matter the cost. He would say just about anything.

"You're right," Sharon nodded, clearing her throat. "We should do that."

**THREE MONTHS LATER:**

Rusty stood by the couch watching Sharon sleeping under a light blanket. This had been the same morning for months, with her hand never far from her gun. The one saving grace was that they lived on the eleventh floor and there was no way for Stroh to sneak through a window. Rather than wake her up, Rusty pulled out his cell phone and called Lt. Flynn. Maybe he could say something to Sharon. Then again, he wasn't sure what Flynn could do. When Sharon was determined, noting could stop her. The line rang and rang, nearly making him disconnect when Flynn finally answered. "Lt Flynn, hey, ummm…." Rusty bit his bottom lip, "Could you come to the condo?"

"_What's up kid?"_

"It's Sharon, she's fine, sort of…" Rusty scrubbed his hand over his mouth. "Please, can you come over?"

"_Don't worry, I'll be right there."_ Andy ended the call and knocked on Sharon's door. "Rusty, it's Flynn, open up." He called out. From the other side of the door he could hear the young man moving around, and then the deadbolt unlocked. The moment the door opened, Andy asked, "Is she on the couch?" This wasn't the first time that he'd been called here by Rusty.

"She can't keep doing this." Rusty said stepping back from the door. Andy Flynn had a unique relationship with his adoptive mother. Now more than ever her relied on it, needed him to use whatever pull he had to reassure her things were going to be fine, even when they knew nothing would be the same until Stroh was back in jail where he belonged.

Andy moved inside and around the couch to where Sharon was sleeping. He shook his head as he sat down slowly next to her so he wouldn't jolt her awake. Leaning over her, Andy brushed the back of his hand against her cheek, "Sharon, wake up…" He whispered waiting for her to wake up.

Sharon opened her eyes, the sleep fading from her vision to see Andy. "What're you doing here?" She slurred trying to sit up. Andy was so close that she was forced to put her arm over his shoulder to keep herself up and not from falling back asleep. They'd been doing this for months.

"Rusty," Andy answered sitting up pulling Sharon with him. "You can't keep sleeping on the couch." He muttered slipping his arm around her waist.

"I know," Sharon nodded, "I just…"

"We'll find him." Andy said. Three months and no hint of Stroh; the man had effectively gone to ground.

"And I may have a way to do that." Sharon looked away, looking at Rusty sitting in a chair adjacent from the couch. "Someone I know might be able to help."

"Why are you mentioning this now?" Rusty asked, trying desperately to remain in his seat. Try as he might to live as if Stroh didn't matter to him, it was hard to walk down the street without jumping at every sound.

"There's a legal snag attached." Sharon brought her legs off the cough, setting her feet on the floor. "She's a genius hacker who uses her considerable talents, or used to, to put people in jail. Her parents were murdered, but the killer was never caught."

"But if she can help…" Rusty urged.

"It's not that simple." Sharon shook her head getting up from the couch. Leaving the living room, she headed back to her room to change and get ready for the day. Last night she'd come to the decision to go to the hacker she knew, to ask for help. It wasn't going to be the best of days that's for sure.

**VALHALLA TECH SOLUTIONS:**

Taeryn Raines sat in her office staring at her desk pretending to do work while in truth she was scanning through files she'd gathered on a missing fifteen year old boy. When she wasn't working she was looking for people, searching for runaways, kidnapped victims, and on the rare occasion she would find ways to land murderers in jail. Once a hacker, always a hacker; she always had that urge to go here she knew she didn't belong. Taeryn leaned back, cracked her back, and when she sat up she saw the last person she ever thought she'd see again. "Mrs. Raydor…" she pushed back from the desk, "I'm not being arrested again am?"

"No, Taeryn, you're not." Sharon answered taking a step into the nice office. "Things seemed to have worked out for you." What more could she say? "I…" Sharon looked over her shoulder here she saw Andy and Rusty leaning against the wall. "It's not easy for me to be here, but I want to ask you for help, to have you use your certain skill set…"

"And how am I not going to get arrested for that?" Taeryn asked crossing her arms over her chest. It was so hard to keep up the smart-ass attitude. When she'd been a teen, Sharon Raydor had been a saving grace, someone she trusted, and she even had Ricky for a while.

"I'll get you and iron clad immunity agreement." Sharon said.

"Uh huh… so you're banking on my lack of scruples?" Taeryn relaxed her stance. "Why should I help you?"

"It's not for me." Sharon replied, "It's for my son."

"Ricky? He's in trouble?" Panic gripped Taeryn.

"No, my other son, Rusty," Sharon turned so Taeryn could see him.

Seeing the young man, there was a small niggling of her conscience to get her to help. "What kind of trouble is he in?"

"A serial killer and rapist wants to kill him." Sharon answered.

"Fantastic," Taeryn muttered. "Forget the immunity agreement, I'll do this without it. Just bring me on as an LAPD consultant so that whatever I find, you can use. Right now, I highly doubt you'd want to wait any longer to find this guy."

"I just want to protect my son." Sharon stated.

"Then I'll meet you tomorrow." Taeryn nodded.

**SQUAD ROOM:**

Sharon stood by the murder board not really seeing any of the information written on it. She checked her watch every so often. For the thousandth time, she wondered if she was making a mistake by going around the law like this. Then she would look at her son, remember that Stroh meant to kill him, and her resolve grew even stronger. Sharon moved the sleeve of her shirt up again to check her watch. Taeryn was now two hours late. Turning from the board she saw Andy coming towards her, even when she didn't want to, a little smile appeared. "She's late." Sharon shook her head.

Andy looked around the squad room; thankfully it was empty, before he said "She'll be here. Hacker's aren't known for their punctuality." He tried to pass it off as a joke, but the worry in Sharon's eyes cut him to the core. Leaning in close, he whispered, "If we weren't at work, I'd hold you so close right now." To show he meant it, he stepped in closer to her. "But, I'll control myself."

"I actually want nothing more than your arms around me at this moment." Sharon replied quietly. It had been a few weeks since they had started taking a few more steps in their relationship, spending more time together. Andy had spent the night a few times a week since Stroh's escape. "The sooner this is over…"

"Don't worry," Andy reached out on instinct placing his hand on her shoulder, he rubbed his thumb over her shoulder. As much as he hated it, they were at work, and yet when he looked at her, Andy saw Sharon when she was asleep on the couch, her hand dangling over the edge. This business with Stroh had nearly destroyed the Chief, and now it was doing the same to Sharon. "I can stay tonight, if you want…" He offered. Anything he could, Andy would do it.

"Andy…." Sharon was halfway tempted to tell him no, but even as the word formed on her tongue, she couldn't say it. "I don't want to... uhh…" How could see tell him she didn't want to seem needy, when all she wanted was to rely on him. It was strange enough being newly divorced and then starting something with Andy that she wasn't sure what to do or say. Rather than saying anything, she brought her hand up and placed it over his.

"I'll bring dinner; we watch a movie on the couch, and stay in." Andy said feeling better when Sharon nodded in agreement. Then, for added reassurance, Andy continued, "There is no way I'm letting you sleep on the couch another night."

"So," Sharon smirked wishing, not for the first time, that she could slip her arms around his waist. "We're going to act like a normal couple tonight?" Nothing sounded better to her at the moment and now she knew how Chief Johnson felt during her long pursuit of Stroh. This man hunt was consuming her, and it was only a few months in.

"Sounds strange I know, but you need it or you'll burn out." Andy replied. "I'll take care of everything." More than anything he just wanted to be there for her in any way that she needed him. Andy knew he would do anything for Sharon.

"You always do." Sharon angled her head to the side, her smile still in place. Giving in, she placed her hand on his chest and over his heart. Andy had been there for her in more ways than one these last few months and she didn't have the words to thank him.

"Am I interrupting anything?"

Sharon turned to see Taeryn. "You're late," she scolded lightly seeing that the young woman's hood was pulled down over her eyes. "What's the matter?"

Taeryn flipped back her hood showing a cut to her cheek. "Nothing, I had a date last night, it ended badly, and the guy ended up in the ER." She stepped back before Sharon could reach out to her. "I just want to work. So, where do you want me to set up?"

Sharon nodded knowing that if Taeryn said she was alright, then chances are she was telling the truth. It was best not to push her, she and Rusty were alike in that way. "The conference center would be the best place for you, lots of room, and…"

"I'll be out of the way." Taeryn jumped in with a sly smile. Her eyes drifted to Rusty sitting at one of the desks. "Hey, kid, come give me a hand." When he made no move to come over she laughed, "Come on, I don't bite." He got out of the chair, Taeryn could tell that he was nervous. It made her want to help all the more. No one, not even a young kid, should have to live in a state of fear.

Rusty came over, but stood as close to Sharon and Flynn as he could without making it seem like he was apprehensive of this new person. "I don't know what I could help you with. My knowledge of computers is severely limited."

Taeryn chuckled, "I'm not interested in what you can do with computers. It's what you can tell me about Stroh that will help me gage where I should hit him."

"But I barely know him…" Rusty quickly replied.

"You know the monster he truly is, not the mild mannered attorney." Taeryn assured. "The man who ran you down, who slashed open your leg; that's the man I need to find." With a motion of her head, she smiled lightly and headed towards the conference room.

Rusty paused looking at Sharon, "How does she know any of that?" It brought about a sour taste in his mouth to hear a complete stranger speak on things that happened to him a few years ago.

"Taeryn can get information that no one else can." Sharon explained. "As she would describe herself, Taeryn thinks she's ELITE, top tier of the hacker world."

"I get that, but…" Rusty glanced at her in the conference room. "How did you know to go to her?"

"Taeryn dated Ricky for a while." Sharon answered. It was information that she'd left out the previous morning when she suggested using means outside the law to find Stroh.

"Oh…" Rusty nodded. "Is she… safe?"

"Rusty, you're safest here on this floor." Flynn said. "She's in the conference room, the farthest from the door. Don't worry, you won't be hurt here." Rather than say much more, the young man nodded and headed off in the direction of the conference room. The moment he was out of ear shot, Flynn leaned over to Sharon, "He'll be fine."

"I know," Sharon replied. "But right now, I would settle for this day to be over."

In the conference room, Taeryn took a seat on one of the chairs as her computer booted up. Her star up screen consisted of blue flames and her hackers mark; Wraith. She was able to move in and out of any system she set her mind to. Now, she had a just cause to put her elite skills to use for a good reason. The moment the door opened, her head shot up, and a smile came to her. "Took you long enough." She joked.

"Yeah, well, I don't like people poking around my life for fun." Rusty commented.

"Sorry about that." Taeryn inclined her head, "I have boundary issues apparently."

Rusty sat down opposite her and said, "Sharon says your good, but she didn't say I should trust you."

"Yeah," Taeryn smirked, "Normally, I would say you could, but I am about to do some major level hacking that puts me at odds with the legal system. I'm doing this as a favor to your mom. Congrats by the way. Sharon is the best."

Rusty glared at her as she spouted more information about his personal life. "About that, Sharon said you dated Ricky. Why did you break up?" Taeryn cast him along glance that was not the friendliest. "What? You know about me. Why can't I know about you?"

"Ok," Taeryn nodded. "I did date your older brother, and for a while it was great, but he moved to San Francisco. He wanted me to go, I couldn't, wouldn't go…" To this day she could still see the look of pure anguish on Ricky's face. Then she did the unspeakable; she walked away from him. He had called to her, tried to get her to come back, but she kept walking, kept her resolve, and kept walking out of his life. Ricky would be, at least she thought, had convinced herself, better off without her. She was a felon and he still had a future without the threat of her stigma. He'd made it while she was still hacking.

"Why not?" Rusty saw a flash of pain cross her eyes, knew that it was connected to how she and Ricky parted ways.

"I'm a felon, Rusty. I'm not a good person." Taeryn tried to play it off as a joke, but it wasn't. She'd spent her teen years in juvie, then when she got out she'd been forced to wear and ankle monitor.

"You can't be all bad, I mean, you're helping catch a man who wants to kill me." Rusty replied.

"Oh, that's an easy choice, the guy who wants to kill you is a grade A psycho. He either deserves to be very very dead, or locked in a hole so deep not even light will touch him." Taeryn remarked adding a wink. Then she looked at her computer, it was all booted up and ready to begin. "Ok, ready to work, but I need a few things." Getting up, she motioned for Rusty to follow her while she went to Sharon to gain the information she needed.

**THAT NIGHT:**

Sharon was curled on her couch, a light throw blanket wrapped around her while she listened to Andy moving around her kitchen. She as trying to get into the mood of the evening, but she was having a hard time knowing that Rusty was out with Taeryn and Detective Sykes. Amy went along to protect Rusty. He'd also volunteered to be out of the condo for as long as he could manage. She really didn't know what she'd done to have a son like him. That thought brought a smile to her lips, a real one. Kicking her mind back into the evening Andy had planned for, she turned back and watched him fixing them plates from the take out he'd brought with him. "So, what's this movie we're watching tonight?"

Andy finished placing food on their plates. He picked them up and walked over to the couch where he handed Sharon's to her. "Well, I thought we could use some levity this evening." Andy answered sitting down next to her. Before he got too settled and started eating he asked, "Do you want me to pour you a glass of wine?"

"No," Sharon answered quickly.

Andy chuckled, "You can drink in front of me, I don't mind."

"I'm not going to do that to you." Sharon replied gently. "Being out is one thing, this is different."

Leaning over, Andy placed a kiss to Sharon's cheek. He looked at her like he'd never seen another woman like her in his whole life. "You're amazing, you know that?" He said making a blush creep up to her cheeks.

"It would be rude for me to imbibe in front of you," Sharon replied side stepping his compliment. She mainly wanted to avoid any alcohol incase things moved up a level between them. It was presumptuous, but she planned on kissing him at some point tonight, and she wanted it to be just them without the taste of liquor on her tongue.

"Sharon, I'm an alcoholic, and I've accepted it. I'm ok with people drinking in front of me. I can go out to dinner with you, you can have wine, and I know I won't fall off the wagon. This setting, in your home, is no different." Andy said gently. Sure, he's had moments on the job where his sobriety was tested, but he had his sponsor, and the meetings.

Sharon set her meal on the coffee table and then sat up enough to where she could pull Andy into a hug. "Oh, Andy…." There was nothing more that she could say to that. He'd been there for her, supported her these last few years, that she didn't know what to say exactly. His arms wrapped around her, holding her tightly. Pulling back, she smiled at him. "I am so lucky to have you."

"I think the same thing every day," Andy replied. "When I come in mornings, seeing you at your desk, I can't help but smile." He looked back on all the times they worked together; it hadn't always been that nice. There times, when he still worked for the Chief, that he did nothing but yell at her. She took it in stride with a calm and composed look, only her eyes told the story of how irritated she was with him. They've come so far.

Sharon kissed Andy, lightly, sweetly, letting her lips linger against his. Breaking away, she rested her brow to his. For just one second she wanted to live solely in this moment letting the rest of the world fall away. Then, with a sigh, she moved back and retrieved her plate. "You promised a movie." She chuckled when he gave her a teasing look.

"Ok, ok…" Andy got up to go to the TV. While Sharon had been changing out of her work attire and into something more comfortable Andy cued up the movie he'd brought over in the hopes, for a little while, he could make her forget about Stroh. "I hope you don't mind comedy." He chuckled as he turned on the TV and hitting the play button on the remote. The main tittles rolled on the screen when he went to sit down and pick up his plate.

"You didn't?" Sharon laughed looking at the screen.

"I did." Andy answered picking up his plate. "Told you, it was going to be comedy tonight."

"So you had to pick Police Academy? That's a little on the nose, don't you think?" Sharon smiled when he looked at her. She wasn't displeased with the movie; it just entertained her that he thought to choose that one.

"Kinda," Andy shrugged casting a side long glance at Sharon. She grinned at him before taking a bite of her dinner. "I figure it would do us some good to just laugh tonight."

"Then, this is the best choice. Besides, the character of Lieutenant Harris reminds me of someone." Sharon giggled.

"Me too," Andy chuckled and then settled down to watch the movie. He sat back to enjoy being with Sharon for the night.

**ACROSS TOWN:**

Rusty sat laughing with Taeryn as she told some funny stories about Ricky. He had been slowly warming up to her all day until he felt as if he'd known her for years. She had that effect on people. Even Amy was joking around with her while, Rusty know, she was watching the people coming and going through the restaurant doors. "Ricky really had a grunge phase?" Rusty laughed.

"Oh yes, grunge, punk, and even tried emo for a while." Taeryn replied. Voices caught her attention forcing her to look up and see the man she'd been waiting for. "If you'll excuse me for just one second" Getting up from the chair she strode across the main room of the restaurant to the man clad in black biker leather. The moment Taeryn came within a few feet of him he removed his helmet, letting all of his long blond hair fall to frame is fallen angel face. "Hello Dorian." She greeted mere moments before he pulled her close and ravished her mouth. Taeryn moaned into the kiss while Dorian's hands shoved a flash drive in her pocket.

Dorian pulled back and licked his lips. "You know I love your kisses." He winked at her. "It's all there, and few extra's." There was a cab waiting for him outside. Dorian stripped out of his leather jacket and handed over the helmet. "Thanks for letting me take her for a spin." Dorian handed the keys over as well.

Taeryn licked her lips as well. "Dorian, as always its pure pleasure working with you," She laughed out loud when he blew her a kiss on his way out the door. Shoving her hand in her pocket she brought out the USB drive. "Oh, that man." Taeryn purred delightedly then, with an apologetic shrug she headed back to the table, "Sorry about that."

"Who is that guy, your boyfriend?" Rusty asked.

"No," Taeryn shook her head. "Dorian is way too pretty to be my boyfriend, but I use him when I need information, or to blow off steam." She chuckled darkly showing the flash drive to Sykes. "This is how I'll help you find Stroh."

"What's on it?" Amy asked, turning once more to look at the people coming in through the door.

"Mmmm," Taeryn shrugged. "I don't know yet. But I would imagine it's a statistical breakdown of Stroh's habits, his patterns, and his likely targets." At the semi blank looks on both of her companion's faces, Taeryn elaborated. "Dorian is a data miner. He analyzes large amounts of information and finds patterns. NSA level analysis. So, I sent him stuff earlier, wanted him to find the common threads, and he did."

"I don't see how any of that could help you." Amy said. "We've had three months to hunt for Stroh, but we've found nothing." It was nearly driving the division to wits end. Sanchez had gone so far as to place a hand written sign on the wall that said, "Get Stroh". When she asked him about it, he told her it was like the one the Chief had on the wall.

"Well, my lovely Detective, you've been looking for his face. I'm looking for his habits." Taeryn flirted lightly with Amy. "With a little know how, he could use make-up to change his features without using plastic surgery. Stroh is egomaniacal, he won't change his face. It's his hook. He uses it to get girls. He won't be able to stop, men like him never do. He's cruising on a high from escaping custody, from hiding so well, that soon it'll end and he'll kill again. He'll need to kill to slake his lust for the hunt and the conquest."

"You could be a cop." Rusty pointed out. Listening to her describe Stroh sort of creeped him out.

"I prefer being compared to a profiler. They have more fun." Taeryn replied. "They had one tracking me and when I caught by the FBI, I got to meet my ghost. Learned a few things from her too."

"I don't think this is a good idea." Amy shook her head. "You're a convicted felon."

"I've never killed anyone. I was convicted on crimes of hacking and I did my time. Now I'm being used by the LAPD. What's the matter, Detective? Do you wanna use me too?" Taeryn flirted wickedly. She always liked playing both sides of the fence.

Amy chuckled, "I have a boyfriend."

"I know," Taeryn replied.

"Do you flirt with everyone?" Amy asked trying not to get drawn in by the woman to her left.

"Not everyone, just the pretty ones." Taeryn chuckled taking Amy's hand to place a gentle kiss to her knuckles. The Detective pulled her hand back a second later.

Amy felt her cell phone buzz and was relieved to have something to break the eye contact she had with the other woman. There was something about her that just drew people in. Shaking her head, she pulled it out and read the text from Lt. Provenza. "Ok, Rusty it's time to go."

"Where we going?" Rusty asked confused. "Am I not going home?"

"I'll take him. The condo's on my way."Taeryn piped up. Both of them looked at her, "I have a motorcycle, it's faster."

**SHARON'S CONDO:**

The movie played on in the background, the lights had been turned off, and Sharon was astride Andy's lap. His hands ran up and down her sides, each time he teased taking off the top layer t-shirt she wore. She gasped when his arms tightened around her allowing him to take her to the couch beneath him. "Andy…." Sharon giggled when he drew her arms up over her head. He ran his hands down her arms, along her sides, and then gripped the hem of her shirt. She arched her back letting him pull the cotton up exposing the white camisole she wore.

Andy made sure to go slow, to take his time, and to get Sharon so dazed with feeling that she put everything else out of her mind except what he was doing to her. As he pushed the shirt up his lightly kissed her abdomen. She was shuddering and he liked it. The shirt slipped over her head leaving him free to kiss her, to ravish her mouth, and settle between her thighs that wrapped around him. Her arms draped over his shoulders, her fingers fisting in his hair.

Sharon moaned into Andy's mouth, her hands leaving his strong shoulders to touch his chest, fingers fiddling with the buttons of his shirt. One popped free, then another, and another until she was all the way down to the waist band of his jeans. She parted the over shirt and dug her fingers into the white of his shirt pulling him as close to as she could. Sharon barely registered the sound of keys turning in the lock, the sound of the door opening, but what broke through the haze was someone calling out to her.

"Hey, Mom!" Ricky called out when he opened the door to her condo. He heard the sound of the TV but nothing else. It wasn't like his mom to fall asleep on the couch, though he hadn't been here in four months. "Mom, you here?" he tried again as he turned to shut the door.

Sharon made a face and whimpered lightly to Andy. He smiled broadly as he moved off her while the front door closed. While Andy rested comfortably in the corner of her couch, she got up to face Ricky when he turned to see her. "Hi, honey, what are you doing here?"

"Gee, mom, forget I was coming home for a week?" Ricky teased going to his mother to embrace her. It was then he saw Andy Flynn sitting on the couch and he had the feeling that he'd walked on something. Pulling back from his mom, he continued, "I know I said I was going to be here tomorrow, but I was bumped to an earlier flight, and I thought 'What the hell.' So, here I am"

"I'm glad you're here, really," Sharon hugged her son again. "You should have called, I would have come to get you from the airport."

"I did call, no one answered. Your cell not working?" Ricky asked dropping his duffle bag. He saw two dinner plates on the coffee table. "Did I interrupt something?"

Sharon felt her pockets realizing that she didn't have her phone. "I can't remember where I put my phone, and no, Andy and I were having dinner and watching a movie."

"Yeah, please, there is plenty left in the kitchen," Andy said keeping his left leg crossed over his right. He wasn't about to risk getting up at the moment, not with what he and Sharon had been doing a few moments ago.

"Great," Ricky laughed. "So, where's my little brother?"

Rusty rode the elevator with Taeryn. He had just come from a motorcycle ride that was thrilling. She'd taken him down side streets, through parking lots, and abandoned buildings. He'd never shouted in so much fun in his all his life. "Thanks for bringing me home." He said when the elevator opened on his floor. "Do you want to come in?"

Taeryn flied the visor up on her helmet. "Sure, you don't think Sharon will get mad. It's pretty late." When they got off the elevator she put the visor back down against the harsh hall lighting.

"No, she was with Lt. Flynn. They are more than likely still up." Rusty remarked fitting the key in the lock. When he opened the door her heard Ricky's voice. Before he could back out of the apartment, his new older brother saw him. "Hey Ricky!" Rusty called out plastering a smile on his face.

Ricky heard the door open, turned, and saw Rusty standing in front of someone in biker leathers. The person struck a chord of familiarity with him, but he couldn't place it. "Hey there little brother, whose your friend?"

Taeryn knew she should have run, should have gotten out of there, but seeing Ricky there, looking good and happy just drew her inside. The moment she removed her helmet she knew that happiness would leave his face. Then again, if he was here he was going to find out about her sooner or later. Being brave, she pulled the helmet up off her head, "Hello Ricky." As she knew it, the dazzling smile on his face vanished the moment he saw her. "It's been a while."

**TO BE CONTINUED:**


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary:** Sharon seeks out someone who can help locate Stroh.

**Disclaimer:** I own nothing of MAJOR CRIMES.

**Rating:** T

**Pairing:** Sharon and Andy

**SEEKING A HACKER:**

Ricky couldn't believe who he was seeing. "What the hell are you doing here?" He snarled, suddenly all of his homecoming cheer was gone. He hadn't seen Taeryn in eight years, and then all of a sudden she shows up at the condo in the company of his little brother. Anger flared knowing that Rusty had been anywhere near Taeryn, a convicted felon he lost his heart to, and most of his young life.

"Corrupting your little brother," Taeryn replied sarcastically. "I took him to a club where there were drugs and hustlers, loud music…." At the look on Ricky's face Taeryn threw her hands up in the air. "Oh, my god! I took him out to dinner with one the Detectives that works with Sharon. I paid the bill too, in case you were wondering. Excuse me for trying to be a human being."

"I see you still have that not so funny sense of humor." Ricky accused. "You being human is still debatable." Ricky was trying so very hard to keep his anger rolling towards Taeryn. She was the last person he ever expected to see walk through his mother's door. Those first few years he'd been gone, he'd done nothing but go over every moment of their relationship to see what he knew to be true and what lies she'd told him.

"And I see you still have that massive chip on your shoulder." Taeryn rolled her eyes. She ignored Ricky, turning her attention to Rusty, "It was fun tonight. I'll see you soon. Sharon, my uncle will be contacting your office tomorrow to iron out my working for you for a while. He's even going to send over a few things I need."

"Finally got a job in the real world I see." Ricky remarked.

"Yes, I have job, what do you do? Think up one liners?" Taeryn shot back.

"Alright, that's enough you two." Sharon ordered. Then she addressed Taeryn "He's ok with you doing this?"

"My uncle?" Taeryn snickered, "Yeah, he doesn't care what I do so long as I don't steal information from any of our powerful clients or get picked up by the CIA or the FBI."

"I think you should leave now, it's one thing you're good at." Ricky motioned to the door.

"Then you've clearly forgotten what I can really do." Taeryn glared at Ricky, "You know your mother came to me asking for my help. Not the other way around pal, so check your attitude." She snarled. "Besides, I have pressing business to attend to with someone a little more entertaining than you. Goodnight Sharon. Rusty, it was awesome spending time with you. Lt. Flynn, I look forward to seeing what the Major Crimes division at work." Grabbing her helmet, Taeryn headed out the door and back to the elevator.

Inside, Ricky wanted to slam the door in pure anger. He turned the lock and then turned to his mother seeing her with her arms crossed over her chest. This was not going to be pretty, he already knew that. "You had to go to her? What? You couldn't find some other hacker? The moment she gets bored with this, she'll leave you high and dry with nothing you can use."

"If I could, I would have." Sharon replied as calmly as she could. "Taeryn is the only I know with no fear of going after the truly terrible people in this world. She's a cyber-hunter, the best there is, and I need that right now." Looking over at Rusty, her features softened. "The man Rusty testified against, he escaped custody and is on the loose. I went to Taeryn for him."

"That whack job is loose?" Ricky toned down his outrage and saw the fear hiding in his mom's eyes. "Mom, is there a chance he'll come after you two?"

Sharon didn't want to lie, knew telling Ricky the truth was the right thing, but before she did that she looked at Andy. He nodded, giving her a look of support. Then she turned back to her son, "There's always a chance, but that's why I carry a gun and a badge."

**SQUAD ROOM:**

**NEXT MORNING:**

Sharon walked into the Major Crimes division and flicked on the lights. Coming further into her squad room, music caught her attention. There was no one that she could see; none of her detectives would be in yet. Then she looked down towards the conference room. Light were on, the music was coming from there where she saw Taeryn. She really shouldn't be surprised to see the younger woman here; then again she was a Queen in the computer world. Electronic locks had to be easy for her to bypass. Setting her bag down on Amy's desk, she walked down the short hallway to the conference room door. "How did you get in here?" Sharon asked the moment Taryn turned to her, a small impish smile on her face.

"I cloned a key card," Taeryn shrugged like it was nothing; at least it was to her. "I figured you'd want me to get a jump start on all this, and I have." She motioned to the smart boards that she borrowed from her uncle's company. On one board she'd hacked into every facial recognition database belonging to all the alphabet agencies so she could utilize every traffic cam, ATM, and any other security camera. On the second board she was decoding Stroh's encrypted files, she had a program running to only scan and decode names and places; toeing the line of illegal and breaking confidence, but not jumping over it. On the third board she had all of the evidence, digital copies, from Stroh's case in a web looking for linking threads between all of his victims beyond the appearance.

"You did all this?" Sharon asked walking in in front of all three of the smart boards, scanning the selected data as she moved by. "This is…" She was truly amazed at how fast Taeryn had compiled all this data.

"I figured after last night, the sooner I get started the sooner I get you what you want and I'm gone." Taeryn crossed her arms over her chest. She had to keep her walls firmly in place, preparing for the next run in with Ricky.

"About last night…" Sharon turned to her. "Ricky was out of line, and I want..."

"No, Sharon, he wasn't." Taeryn cut her off. "I'm not a good person. I lie, I drink, and I hang around with all the wrong people. There are plenty of questionable choice's I've made, and I rarely do anything that doesn't benefit me in some way. Even after getting caught I still do illegal things. I didn't deserve to be with Ricky for as long as I was while being in the position I was in. Sharon, I know where my life's headed…" With a sigh, she shook her head, and changed the subject. "After I go through what I have, I should have a starting point for you." Rather than let Sharon continue on, Taeryn turned on her music and got back to work.

Sharon left Taeryn to it. Turning around she walked out of the conference room in time to see Andy and Provenza coming in for the morning. Automatically a smile curved her lips when she saw him, "Good morning Andy," She walked over to Amy's desk to retrieve her purse. "How are you this morning?"

"I'm good," Andy replied handing her a cup of coffee he'd picked up. "How'd things unfold between you and the boys last night?"

"Oh, you know, Ricky's still angry, and Rusty doesn't know what to say, and I can't really say anything to him. I can tell he likes Taeryn, but he doesn't want to say anything while around Ricky." Sharon answered accepting the coffee from Andy. "Thank you." Taking a step close to him, she whispered, "I'm sorry you couldn't stay last night. I wish it had been different."

"It's ok, you had things to deal with." Andy replied. He didn't want to say more with his partner in ear shot. "There are other nights, and other dinners we can have."

Provenza tried to ignore his partner and the captain as he ambled over to sit at his desk. From where he sat he could see the young lady that had been holed up in there yesterday with Rusty. "Captain, is your friend almost finished with our conference room lest we have a murder?"

"It's unclear on how much time she needs." Sharon answered. "She's taking on a new approach in tracking Phillip Stroh."

"What?" Provenza asked standing up from his chair. "And you didn't feel the need to tell…"

"I'm going to brief everyone today when they get in. I needed some time to make sure this was the right call." Sharon cut off Provenza. "Lieutenant, I promise, this is something all of you need to hear. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to go make a call to DDA Rios and get her over here."

The morning slipped by mostly unnoticed by the squad. Every now and then they would look towards their Captain in her office having a long drawn out conversation with the DDA attached to the Stroh case, or towards the conference room attached where the stranger moved back and forth, sometimes dancing to music, and then for a while she would sit to concentrate on her computer.

Sanchez looked over at Provenza, "Sir, are we going to find out what's going on?"

"Patience, Sanchez, the Captain said she would fill us all in on what's going on." Provenza counseled the detective. In the couple of years since Raydor had been placed in Major Crimes, the pace had changed, and at first he thought for the worst. Now, he was seeing how she guarded them all, how she worked with them, and how she was able to close cases faster than the Chief could.

In Sharon's office, she had been dealing with Emma and the immunity agreement for Taeryn she wanted drawn up while the girl worked in the next room. "Emma, trust me, this is the last thing I wanted to do, but here we are, we need what she can do."

"I'm not denying that," Emma replied turning from the Captain to look at the woman in the next room. "I'm questioning her motives. We have to be able to trust the information she gets us, and not just the legality of it either. She has to deliver something to us that your detectives can verify and then she gets a deal."

"Agreed," Sharon nodded and then got up from her chair. Going over to the window she knocked on the glass to gain Taeryn's attention before motioning that she should join them out in the squad room. She nodded, setting her tablet on the table.

Taeryn had been hard at work, scanning through the information as fast as it came in. She had to start at the first recorded moments of Stroh's escape, then move forward, tracking him from the cameras. While the data had been compiling, she'd taken a look at the incident reports involving the man who called himself "Jesus of Nazareth." Stroh had strategically sacrificed a pawn to facilitate his escape. Looking up from the report, the smart board on the left beeped at her. There in the center was a streaming video from a storage facility. She got up, went to the board and enlarged the video. Working some of her digital magic, she picked up the storage unit number just as Sharon tapped on the glass signaling to her. Quickly she wrote it down before joining the others.

Out in the squad room, Sharon drew the attention of her division. Suddenly she was nervous and couldn't find the words she wanted to use to accurately describe what Taeryn was doing for them. Cautiously she glanced at Andy to her right, like he had last night, he just nodded. "I have had to make plenty of hard choices since coming to Major Crimes, and some of them have tested my faith in the legal system. Now, with Stroh loose, I find myself making a questionable decision." Sharon took a breath and then motioned to Taeryn. "All of you by now have seen her in the conference room. This is Taeryn Raines; she's going to be helping us in our pursuit of Stroh."

Taeryn took her cue, "And I may have a lead for you."

"That was quick." Amy commented.

"I do tend to work that way." Taeryn winked at Sykes. She turned her attention to Sharon, "A little show and tell is in order. Could you all join me in you lovely conference room?"

"Before we go anywhere, what exactly is it you do? The Captain failed to mention." Provenza asked effectively bringing the young woman to a halt. She turned to him, stared him down, and smiled broadly. He could see was calculating what answer to give him.

Taeryn ran her hand through her brunette locks, "I'm ELITE, a hacker of some renown within the cyber world. When I'm not working at my uncle's company, Valhalla Tech solutions, I spend my considerable time and genius looking for wanted criminals via the world wide web." She moved closer to the desks in the center of the room. "Like I told the lovely detective Sykes last night, I'm hunting Stroh in the one place can't hide. We live in the digital age; no one escapes it, not even serial killers." Coming around Amy, Taeryn leaned her hands on the older Lieutenant's desk and put herself at eye level with him. "I have systematically taken over every facial recognition program known to the alphabet agencies. Try as Stroh might, he can't hide his face forever, cameras are everywhere." It was wrong of her, but she relied on her considerable charm to get by in this world. She could distract men of any age when she needed.

Provenza knew when he was being snowed by a pretty face. "I don't trust a word that comes out of your pretty mouth." He replied.

Taeryn chuckled, "I like you and you'd be right not to believe me, but I am a genius, and I've found something that will make you jump for joy." She leaned back, winking at Amy again just to make her uncomfortable.

"I don't jump, and certainly not for joy." Provenza replied dryly.

"He doesn't." Sanchez cut in gaining the pretty girls attention.

"I bet my information will make a difference." Taeryn chuckled. "But it's a show and tell type of information."

"Taeryn…" Sharon stressed her name, gaining the younger woman's attention.

"Oh, all right…" Taeryn looked back at Sharon pouting playfully. "Take away all my fun…" She backed away then heading back to the conference room.

The division, with leave from Sharon, got up and filed into the conference room with the exception of Andy. He stayed at her side until they were out of ear shot. "Tell me I'm doing the right thing." She whispered to him.

"Anything goes to capture Stroh." Andy replied. He had complete confidence in Sharon, trusted her judgment no matter. "I will follow your lead, and I'll watch your back." He promised. While no one was around, Andy rested his hand on Sharon's lower back to offer her some sense of comfort. "Come on, let's got see what Hacker Wonder has for us." Sharon grinned at him.

The moment Sharon and her ever vigilant Lt. joined the rest of them, Taeryn started talking. "Ok, so I did all this work with five posts of coffee. Major caffeine buzz right now," She chuckled going to the board that held all the security footage. "I loaded all the security footage that had been logged into evidence after Stroh's initial escape. I was able to track the whack job all the way to a long term storage facility." Breaking off, she double tapped the board and played the video she managed to get from the cloud account she'd hacked during the night. "Gotta love cloud accounts. He's going to box 1219, but seeing as they only have cameras in the entrance, I wasn't able to pick him up again until he left."

"You found all of this in one night?" Buzz asked as he scanned through all the video clips playing out simultaneously.

"Yes," Taeryn sighed. "I amaze myself sometimes. I'm working on picking up his trail after he left the storage facility. The next time I find him I have him getting into a car on a street corner, presumably with a phone app. With digital enhancement I was able to get the license plate of the car that picked him up and track it until they pulled on to the freeway. After that I lost him."

"You lost him?" Sanchez asked repeating her statement. "How does that help us?"

"Well, while my multiple programs have been running facial recognition, I took a stab at Stroh's laptop poking around seeing what useful data I could mine from it. It's pretty cut and dry, the usual amount of internet surfing, some porn, and the odd google search. Then I found some shadow files hidden on his desk top, zipped and locked with a rotating tumbler passkey. I know how to get around that, if that was all he had on the computer. He had someone set up a system within the system protected by a firewall I know was created by a hacker who calls himself KING. To get through it, I'm launching a brute force attack to break any weaknesses KING might have forgotten to shore up; so far it's finding a weakness that's taking time." She smiled at Sanchez, this time in a friendly manner.

"Do you mind if I take a look?" Tao asked. He had been riveted by her cyber talk. Normally when he tried to give an in depth answer, his team told him to skip to the end.

"Oh, yeah go for it." Taeryn chuckled. "Normally KING has a back door built into his firewall that he can exploit at any time. My problem is finding it as he's hidden it within the base code."

"I might have a few ideas to try." Tao muttered picking up the laptop.

"Then, by all mean Lt. take a crack at it." Taery gave her blessing. If anything, it was one less thing she had to worry about. She could focus all of her attention on combing through the security data, picking up Stroh's trail.

Emma didn't watch the security tape, or listen to the girl talk computer jargon with Tao; she was distracted by the face paced words rolling through the screen of the middle board. "What's all this?"

"I am running a decryption algorithm on Stroh's files, specifically targeting names and addresses." Taeryn answered, stretching her arms over her head. She was starting to burn out and if she didn't get more coffee, she might pass out.

"You can't do that!" Emma exclaimed. "All this information falls under privilege."

"Not names," Taeryn pointed out. "As I'm decrypting the names, I cross referencing them with court cases that Stroh tried. Defendants in court cases are a matter of public records."

"This is toeing the line." Emma crossed her arms.

"But not stepping over it." Taeryn replied cheekily. "Keep your panties on; I know what I'm doing." Then because she could, and because she didn't care, Taeryn said, "If you're still interested in getting them in a bunch, I can help you with that later." Emma gave her a look mixed with shock and anger. Taeryn chuckled darkly but stopped when she received a scathing look from Sharon.

"Lt. Provenza, Tao, Sanchez, and Amy, get a warrant for the locker, and take Buzz with to document everything." Sharon ordered, they all nodded, and left one by one. "Emma, do you have enough to convince the DA to authorize an immunity agreement for Taeryn?"

"There's enough actionable material here." Emma nodded her head wanting to get out of the room as fast as she could. "I'll call when I have something for you."

"Thank you." Sharon nodded as Emma gathered her things to leave. "And Taeryn…."

"I know, I know… more hacking." Taeryn cracked her knuckles, getting ready to dive back into the mountain of information before her.

"No, you're going home to sleep." Sharon walked around the table, placing her hands on Taeryn's shoulder. "You look about ready pass out."

"I am tired, my cheek hurts, but I don't think I could drive safely." Taeryn admitted.

"We'll take you home," Andy offered.

**EARLY AFTERNOON:**

Taeryn trudged up the long flight of stairs to her studio apartment that her uncle bought for her. Everything she owned was bought by her or left to her by her dead parents, same with the money in the trust fund she barely touched. In the real world she was an heiress to a computer company, but in the hacker world, she was a wraith. She could move in and out of any system she wanted. No one was safe. But the status of her life was of little consequence to her as she climbed the steps to go to the loft where her bed was perched. She pulled off her shirt, unhooked her bra, kicked her shoes, and shucked her jeans leaving only her underwear on. Thankfully she fell into bed and pulled the blanket over her body.

Taeryn thought she was about ready to fall asleep when the front door buzzed. Her first instinct was to ignore it, to just go on falling back into sleep, but the buzzer persisted. A growl rumbled in her chest as she got up. Down on the main floor she picked up one of Dorian's silk shirts he'd left behind. She slipped it on and continued on her way to the door. Taeryn hit the intercom and snarled, "This had better be good."

"_Taeryn, let me in."_

"Ricky…." Taeryn hadn't meant to gasp his name. She was tired, so much so that she couldn't keep her walls up. "What do you want?" She snarled.

"_Let me in."_

"Why?" She asked, "So you can yell at me some more, I don't think so. Goodbye, Ricky." She started to back away when his voice came through the intercom again.

"_Taeryn, let me, I want to talk."_

"Damnit…" Taeryn hit the button that would allow Ricky to enter her building. She was the only resident, the rest was under renovations.

Outside, Ricky had tracked down Taeryn to her new residence. Since finding out she was working with his mom, his anger had never really abated. He knew this was a bad idea, beyond stupid, and yet it didn't stop him from standing outside her building. Ricky knew that he'd never gotten over her. The front door buzzed him in giving him second thoughts. That didn't last long; he pulled open the door, and headed inside. Ricky walked through the newly dry walled interior, down the long hallway, then took the stairs to the top most floor where the one and only apartment was located. When he got there, the front door was slightly ajar.

Taeryn stood with her arms crossed over her chest waiting for Ricky to come in. She could hear his heavy foot falls on the floor as he came closer and closer. Try as she might she couldn't keep her heart from skipping a beat. She still cared for him, was still in love. Outwardly she wore a face of annoyance. Taeryn was tired and jonesing for more caffeine. Her whole body was screaming out for more of the liquid nirvana, dealing with Ricky was the last things he wanted. At least that was what she thought until he pushed open the door and was staring at her with his sad eyes. "What?" Still he didn't look at her.

Ricky pushed open the door expecting to see Taeryn in her ratty jeans, a tank top, and her hair pulled up in a messy pony tail she used. What he saw froze him in place, stealing his anger, and replaced it sadness. She stood in her underwear, an oversized man's shirt, but that was not what his eyes fixed upon. Her abdomen was riddled with scars, not the thin lines of healed wounds, but wide scars as if she had been mauled. Ricky couldn't even begin to imagine what had happened to her to leave such marks on her perfect skin. At the sound of her impatient voice, he looked up, looked at her, and asked, "What happened to you?" All thoughts of telling her to stop what she was doing left him at the door.

Taeryn looked down, her shirt was open. She hadn't meant to leave it like that. With annoyance showing on her face, she wrapped Dorian's shirt around her body, and with anger lacing her tone she replied, "Nothing, that's what."

"Those scars are not 'nothing'!" Ricky shouted. In all the years since he left, he never once thought that something that left those kinds of marks behind would ever happen to her. Taeryn was smart, resourceful, and most of all she was a fighter. "None of this would have happened if you had just left with me when I asked." Risky shook his head.

Anger flared in Taeryn's eyes beating back the exhaustion. "You want to do this now? Fine!" she opened her shirt, showing him the full extent of her injuries. "I didn't leave with you because I working for the FBI and part of my deal was that I remain in LA. I couldn't tell anyone, not even you. They filed me under CLASSIFIED and took over my life." She closed her shirt. "The profiler that caught me, she convinced me to put my skills to use hunting serial killers for the Feds. I figured, what the hell, it'll be fun…." Taeryn scoffed. Back then she thought danger was fun, now it was a drug she couldn't live without. When she'd been with Ricky, he'd always been the reason she could pull herself out of the dark, now it was the light she hated to live in more than anything.

"They let this happen to you?" Ricky asked, taking a few steps closer to her. Setting aside the years between them, the anger he'd felt at seeing her again, he wanted nothing more than to fold her in his arms, to let her know that no matter what had happened to her, it was over.

"No, I did." Taeryn shook her head. "I was attached to a case where body parts were turning up, they were partially eaten…" Relating this little bit of what happened still made her sick to her stomach. Taeryn walked away to go sit on her couch. She sat in the corner bringing her knees up against her chest.

Ricky wasn't about to let her drop something like that on him and then just retreat. He learned long ago that if he didn't push her, she would close up, and get lost in her own mind. That was never good for her, not with what demons lurked in the dark of her past. "Tell me." Ricky said as he sat down.

"The case agent in charge saw me, saw I was this monsters type, and he used me as bait." Taeryn said. "I was nearly eaten alive. I had to watch as he used a scalpel, cutting chucks…" She stopped talking, the memories had gone this long without coming back, and she wasn't about ready to tempt fate by talking about them. "My handler managed to get to me and get me an immediate evac to a hospital. After that Uncle Sam gives me a free pass for the rest of my life."

"Oh, my god…" Ricky said in disbelief. "And you're still hunting serial killers after that? Do you have a death wish?!" He snapped.

"Yeah, I guess I do. What else am I gonna do with it?" Taeryn answered sarcastically. "I don't have a choice…" She got up, turning her back on him. "Look, you want to be mad at me, be mad, but I'm helping your little brother, so suck it up and ignore me. I'll be finished in a few days and be out of your life again."

Ricky got off the couch, grapping Taeryn by the shoulders. "I don't want to ignore you and you never should have left my life." Seeing her again, he hadn't really known what it would do to him. Sure, he knew he would be angry, but he had no idea that love for her still simmered underneath it all. "I never should have left…."

"You were living your life, going in the direction you needed, and that wasn't with me," Taeryn responded trying not to feel his hands on her shoulders. "I couldn't be a part of that." She wanted to back away, to put distance between them, only her feet wouldn't work. Taeryn was frozen in front of Ricky.

"Yes, you could've, if you wanted it bad enough, but instead you lied," Ricky dropped his hands and backed away. "You should have told me the truth about the FBI, about how they owned you."

"I couldn't Ricky." Taeryn shook her head. "My deal, when they caught, which was before I met you by the way, I was hunting the monster that murdered my parents. I was poking around the FBI database when they arrested me. Instead of throwing me in jail, they gave me a calling, training, and new focus for my hate." She didn't want to do this, but she had to. Ricky was a good person, a gentle man; he needed to be with someone who matched all that he was. "Just leave, forget about me because you're right, I'm not a person anymore." With that said, she headed to the one room with a door, the room she had designed herself. Her uncle had insisted on installing a panic room for her given her line of work at the time. Reluctantly she'd agreed, but filled it with the latest computer tech. Taeryn left Ricky where he was so she could escape the pain and find solace in the virtual world.

Ricky watched Taeryn walk out, it shouldn't still hurt to see her back turned on him, but it did, and it hurt worse than the first time. He knew he should have gone after her, but after what she said to him, he wasn't too sure he even knew her anymore. There were split seconds where he thought he saw her, the young girl who hadn't a care in the world, the genius with a great sense of humor, but when he tried to look harder, she was gone. If that's what she wanted, then that's what she would get. Ricky left Taeryn's apartment making sure he slammed the front door for effect. Eight years, after all, wasn't long enough to shake her from his system.

**MAJOR CRIMES:**

**MURDER ROOM:**

Sharon stood with her detectives going through all the items brought back from the storage locker that Taeryn had led them to. So far they had found five different aliases, different currency, and weapons. All of this left a sick feeling in the pit of her stomach. She was having a hard time concentrating on everything. Sharon set the forged passport down, stripped off her black gloves and muttered, "I can't do this right now." Before anyone said anything she walked across the murder room going to her office where she shut the door.

Flynn stayed where he was watching Sharon go into her office. She pulled the blinds cutting herself off from the rest of them. He wanted to go to her, to try and get her to talk to him, but what she really needed from them was to connect the dots, to work out what everything in Stroh's storage space meant, and if it could be used to track him down faster. Flynn started to go over the passport Sharon had abandoned when he noticed Provenza staring at him. "What?"

Rather than have this particular talk in front of the other's Provenza got up and motioned for Flynn to follow him. He heard his partner sigh in annoyance, but he didn't care. Something was going on with the Captain, and try and he might not to care, Provenza wanted to know what was happening, and how much work the squad would have to take off her plate. Going into electronics Provenza ordered, "Buzz, get out."

"Why do I have to leave?" Buzz whined.

"I mean it, out!" Provenza pointed to the door. Buzz rolled his eyes, but did as he was told. "Alright, spill it, what's the matter with the Captain?" Normally he would make a concentrated effort to stay out of it, but with this man hunt, everyone's nerves were a little wrangled.

"What makes you think I know?" Andy snapped automatically.

"Don't even…" Provenza warned. "You spend the most time with her outside of work. What is going on?"

"Ok, ok…" Flynn sighed. "Last night, I took dinner over to Sharon's place hoping I could get her to forget about the Stroh case for one evening." At his partners look of annoyance, Flynn arched his eye brow, but continued. "We were watching a movie, and things seemed to be going well, Sharon was coming out of Cop Mode, and then Ricky showed up." He chose to edit out the fact that at the time Ricky came through the door, he has Sharon under him on her couch. "He was coming in today, staying for a week, but he was moved to an earlier flight."

"Did mother and son have an argument or something?' Provenza asked.

"What? No, god no," Flynn quickly answered. "Rusty was out last night with Sykes and Taeryn, and when the hacker brought the kid home, shots were fired. Ricky and Taeryn used to date."

"You're kidding me?" Provenza asked. "She and the Captain's son?"

"Apparently, and it was serious enough that Ricky had asked her to leave LA with him when he moved to San Francisco." Flynn added.

"No wonder she's conflicted." Louie mused. "So, what're you going to do to fix it?"

"Why me?" Flynn asked sharply.

"Flynn, don't, just don't. I know how you feel about her. I see it when you look at her." Louie could, on occasion, be as wise as his age demanded. "Go, find a way to make her feel better."

"Hey," Flynn headed for the door, then stopped and turned, "Thanks."

"Just go…" Provenza groaned. "It's like being back in high school."

Sharon sat in her office, the blinds closed, and her back to both of the doors. She stared out her window not really seeing the building's beyond. Last night, after Taeryn's hit and run entrance and exit, she'd tried to get Ricky to tell her what exactly had happened between him and the woman he'd been madly in love with, but he only muttered something about going out, and didn't return to the condo until early morning. Andy had stayed with her until she finally convinced him to go home and get some sleep while she waited up for Ricky. As a mother she wanted to try and fix whatever was wrong, even though she sensed this was something in which she was powerless to do anything about.

Andy tried not to notice the other's staring at him as he walked with purpose towards Sharon's door. He knocked and then listened for her granting him permission to enter. When he didn't hear anything, he bit the bullet, and just walked in. She was turned away, facing the large windows. "Sharon?" Andy made her name a question as he shut the door. Going to her, he walked around her desk and leaned on the cabinet under the window. "Is there anything I can do?" he was close enough to her that he could reach out and take her hand in his while he waited for her to answer him.

Sharon looked at his hand holding her and then she looked up at Andy. Having him there brought her out of her desk chair and straight into his arms. She needed and anchor right now, Andy was it. He paused for only a moment before his arms came around her in return. Andy stood so he could hold her closer. Lately Sharon had been relying on him for emotional stability that, before Stroh, she had never had trouble maintaining. Even when she was battling against Jack, she never felt the need to be held by someone. Andy was different. This case was different. There was a very real threat against her life, and the life of her son. She was starting to understand what Chief Johnson went through in her hunt to find enough evidence to put Stroh behind bars.

As he had many times before in the past three months, Andy held Sharon for as long as she needed him to. "It's ok, it's going to be ok." He whispered it over and over while running his hands up her back. This was taking its toll on him, seeing her in such a way when any other time he knew her to be larger than life, to be a titan facing off against murderers. "You can't let this consume you." Andy whispered.

Sharon pulled back, "How did Chief Johnson do it? How did she have the patience to follow through and put this monster in jail?" She fisted her hands in the lapels of Andy's suit jacket. "Three months and nothing, we found nothing. I should have…"

"Hey, don't do this, don't play that game. Don't go down this road. You follow the letter of the law, and going to Taeryn now just means that you're out of legal options. This isn't wrong, not when every judge, every DDA, the District Attorney, and every LAPD Officer is behind you 100%." Andy brought his hands up to cup her face, "You are doing the right thing."

"I hope so," Sharon whispered. She breathed in deeply, a smile gracing her lips when Flynn kissed her brow. "Andy…" Sharon gently scolded. In truth she wanted nothing more than to pick up where they had been last night before all hell broke loose. Hopefully when all was said and done, they would find the time, find the peace they needed to take the next step.

"Ooops," Andy tried to look ashamed as he playfully pouted, "I forgot about the rules." He chuckled when Sharon did. It was just good to hear her laugh despite everything going on around them. When things settled down, Andy knew he was going to try and take Sharon away for the weekend, get her out of town, and let her get back to normal. First thing was first; they had to get Stroh.


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary:** Sharon seeks out someone who can help locate Stroh.

**Disclaimer:** I own nothing of MAJOR CRIMES.

**Rating:** T

**Pairing:** Sharon and Andy

**SEEKING A HACKER:**

Late afternoon came rolling around to Los Angeles. In her apartment, the setting sun pulled Taeryn from her siesta. She stretched, a loud groan filling the quiet of her apartment. Getting up from her bed, she sat on the edge until the room stopped spinning. Her head felt clear, senses refocused on the hunt in front of her. As much as she hated to admit it, this row with Ricky, it had done much to clear out some of her churning feelings that had been lingering around. She was almost refreshed.

Getting out of bed, Taeryn walked over to her full length mirror. She only did this, looked at herself, when she had the stomach for it. With an inhalation of breath, she dropped the shirt from her body to stare at her scars. They served as not only a reminder of what she went through, but as a promise that she would never be there again. Some of the scars were distorted from her multiple trips to the gym. She had barely visible abs, her body was slender belying the strength she carried. Lightly she traced every single gruesome line on her stomach before bring her hands up to cup her breasts in the perfect handful.

Taeryn would always have an elfish figure, long legs, and delicate arms no matter how much junk food she ate or how little she worked out. She looked at her face, seeing her sapphire eyes gleaming as bright as gem stones, drawing anyone's attention. Taeryn touched her full lips, they were often described as pouty and pale pink. She had high cheek bones that balanced out her features. Her skin was perfectly tan, soft and supple to the touch. Framing her face were long brunette curls highlighted with golden blonde streaks, some copper, and missed with red. All together she was considered "beautiful" by most of the world. It would still hold true with the cut along her cheekbone. Taeryn wasn't above using her looks to get what she wanted; she'd done it many times before. When she met Ricky, he didn't care what she looked like, all that mattered to him was her heart, her personality, and her mind. Then she destroyed all of that by letting him go. "Screw this…" Taeryn snarled turning away from the mirror. Today was a day to make some temporary cosmetic changes.

**MAJOR CRIMES:**

**MUDER ROOM**

Sharon tracked back and forth in front of the murder board taking in all the information in front of her that her detectives have compiled from the storage locker and from some of the information Taeryn had provided them. So far, nothing had jumped out at her as to where Stroh had gone next, or what he was planning. Normally she would have been struck with some inkling on where to take the next step of her investigation, but Stroh, he was different, and it was beginning to irritate her. She had to keep reminding herself that bringing Taeryn into this was the right thing to do, it had to be. Even if that meant painting a target on her as well.

"Captain?"

Sharon turned to Amy, "Yes, Amy, what is it?" She asked trying to keep her eyes on Detective Sykes and not on Andy as he sat at his desk watching her.

"Julio and I were running all of these ID's and some of them are iron clad with full lives attached to them." Amy handed over a lit to the Captain. "These are some of the names were able to find background on, employment histories, bank records, taxes even, and one of the names rented a car two months back in Palm Springs; a Houston Tanner."

"Does this name show up anywhere else in Palm Springs?" Sharon asked scanning the names. None of them jumped out at her as any such alias Stroh could be using at the moment. If anything none of them were of any use them anymore.

"We're running financial checks on all these names now, so far nothing yet." Amy answered setting the list of names back on her desk.

"Good work." Sharon held on to the list and turned back to the board. Her nerves were tense while trying to figure out what Stroh's next move would be. What was he going to do? What was going to happen to Rusty?

Outside of the Major Crimes murder room, Taeryn looked up and down the hall before she pulled out the cloned ID card from inside her custom made leather jacket. Today she had chosen to go biker with head to toe leather; custom boots in black that fed up to her leather pants. Half way up her thighs the black gave way to purple that melded with the bottom of her jacket, and then up to finish in lavender. On the back she had a sexy mermaid that stood out in stark relief with a sea green tail, her skin of sky blue had her arms covering her torso, and her hair was a bright gleaming gold. With no one watching her she scanned the card and the door released. She pulled it open and walked in where she took a moment to watch Sharon and her detectives hard at work.

Sharon sensed someone staring at her. Turning she saw Taeryn looking drastically different from the woman who had worn ratty jeans, a baggy t-shirt, and scuffed combat boots that morning. "What're you doing here?" She asked. "I thought you were taking the rest of the day to rest." It was the mother in her.

"That's what you thought I was gonna do." Taeryn smiled, and then looked past Sharon to wink at Sanchez. He was staring hard at her and she knew why. Under her leather jacket she wore a Chinese emerald brocade corset with two straps that came up behind her neck. The corset was tight enough on her that it wouldn't move, wouldn't ride up and show the scars on her abdomen.

"It's what you should be doing." Sharon replied. "You worked through the night." Leaving the murder board behind, she walked over to the young woman. "You're going to burn out if you keep going like this." Andy had given her the same advice yesterday.

"I can't burn out," Taeryn whispered her reply. "I'm already there." She looked at Amy's desk; saw a list of names perched by her computer. One name stood out to her. "Houston Tanner?" Taeryn said out loud. "I know that name."

"How?" Amy asked. "We just found this name among the aliases in Stroh's locker."

"Is there an actual life attached to that name?" Taeryn asked staring at the name trying to remember where she had seen that name before, where she might have heard it.

"Yeah," Amy answered. "Credit history, social security number, taxes, and not even a ticket."

"Oh, Stroh, you clever bastard." Taeryn muttered, a smile on her lips, and chuckle bubbling in his chest. "He's using an alias that's been grown, it's a whole life waiting to be lived."

"A what?" Provenza arched his brow. "And you know this because?" Despite the provocative way the young woman was dress, Provenza was getting a little annoyed with having her around.

"A friend of a friend knows someone who can do this." Taeryn replied. "Track the social's, you won't find a dead baby attached to any of them. These aren't stolen. Some of the more reputable alias dealers, the ones who aren't worried about money, will take the time to build up and iron clad ID with school records, college transcripts, and anything else you could think of, so when they're bought, they are ready to be worn like well-made shoes." She went over to Amy's desk and asked. "How many of these did you find?"

"We're up to seven, but there are more ranging from credit cards, to fake IDs." Amy replied. "It's a mess we're sorting through. Some of the names we've run have been connected to known criminals, people Stroh represented."

"That makes sense." Taeryn nodded. She shed her jacket so she could drape it on the open desk behind Sykes. When she turned back she went into genius hacker mode. "Ok, so some of these names belong to clients, complete with records, and more than likely designed to get said client back in jail at some point."

"No one's going to believe a felon's ID was stolen." Sanchez chimed in.

"Exactly," Taeryn agreed. "Who would want that kind of heat, except a whack job off his rocker with a God complex? Luckily, you have me, a Goddess in the cyber realm who happens to be ten times smarter."

"And prettier too…" Sanchez said, smiling at her, but one look from the Captain and Provenza had home looking back at his monitor.

"Aww, thank you Detective," Taeryn laughed lightly. Turning from the other's she directed her attention to Sharon, "After you dropped me off, I linked my set up at home, to the boards here. I expended my facial recog search to include social media sites. People and their camera phones." Taeryn mused with great relish. "This way if I can find him in the past, narrow down his location, and then I can begin to track him in real time."

"Taeryn, you have done more than I thought possible," Sharon said. "I don't want to put you in a position…"

"To be a target?" Taeryn asked. She scoffed. "That particular ship has sailed." Then she lowered her voice and leaned in close to Sharon. "Can we talk in your office? There's something I should tell you."

Sharon wasn't shocked to hear Taeryn had been keeping something from her. It, after all, had been eight years since she'd last seen the young woman. "Certainly," Sharon agreed signaling for her to go ahead. "If anyone finds anything…"

"We'll come get you." Andy cut in. When she walked past him, he touched the back of his hand to hers offering her silent support just in case.

In Sharon's office, Taeryn crossed her arms over her chest. It was a reflexive action that she hadn't been able to let go of in situations when she was feeling uncomfortable. "Don't worry about making me a target of this psycho." She started off. "He wouldn't be the first one I've come up against, and he won't be the last. A few months before I met Ricky, the FBI arrested me, but because of my skills they cut me a deal."

Sharon sat behind her desk watching Taeryn, reading the body language. It was riddled with guilt and nerves. "What sort of deal?"

Taeryn sighed, taking a seat, "I would hack for them, infiltrate suspects computers, and get them the information they needed to stop some truly horrible people." She took a shaky breath. Telling Sharon what she went through was somehow harder than when she'd shouted it at Ricky earlier that day. "After I let go of Ricky, my head wasn't where it should have been. I was assigned to a new case where the agent in charge did not take to me too well. To prove that he was smarter, he used me as bait for a killer they were tracking, a man who ate people." Like they had this morning, tears filled her gaze.

"Oh, my god…" Sharon breathed out, her mind filling in the blanks with gruesome detail. What happened to that FBI agent?" She jumped a head giving Taeryn and opening to skip over what happened to her. "Or, I should ask, what did you do to him?" She had been faced with death, the gruesome brutal nature of it every day for three years since taking over Major Crimes.

Taerny gave Sharon a knowing smile, small, but still a smile. "I put information on his computer that he was taking money from drug dealers; that he was working for one of the major cartels in Mexico." She wiped her tears away and then went back. "You should know before Ricky can come here and say that I'm unfit to be working on this case." She unhooked the bottom three clasps of her corset, scooted the chair back so Sharon could see, and showed her the scars. "You, Ricky, and my FBI handler are the only people who have seen these." Quickly she closed the corset. The sight of her scars made anyone uneasy.

Sharon felt for Taeryn, but she also had a stirring of anger run through her. "They allowed this to happen to you?" She couldn't imagine any such scenario that would allow for someone to be used as bait. When Rusty had wanted to be a part of the SIS operation to catch Wade Weller, she had been adamantly against it. What she saw from Taeryn was what she feared would have happened to Rusty. Seeing such marks on Taeryn only reinforced the barbarism of the world, at how unsafe Rusty really was.

"I don't know what any individual agent knew for sure." Taeryn answered. "And I really wasn't interested. After I was out of the hospital, I strong armed the FBI into letting me set the terms of my working for them. The reason I told you not to worry about an immunity deal, I already have one from good old Uncle Sam. It covers past and future computer crimes I commit while working for any form of law enforcement." Taking up pen and paper, she wrote down a name and number, and then slid it over to Sharon. "This is my handler and his direct number. Call him, he'll tell you everything I just told you."

"Dorian?" Sharon read the name aloud. "No last name?"

"Not for what you want." Taeryn answered getting up from the chair. "Call him, he'll tell you everything I just told you. My scars, my work, my deal."

"Taeryn," Sharon called out before the other woman could get walk out of her office, "Next time you come into PAB, wear something a little more professional." As much as she enjoyed seeing the different sides of Taeryn, the clothes she wore strained the lines of professionalism, the line she wasn't comfortable in crossing. Jeans and t-shirt were fine. Sharon had come in like that more than a few times when the case stretched into the weekend.

Taeryn looked back over her shoulder, "You mean a dull and lifeless three piece suit? That's boring," She winked at Sharon, and added, "Will do Captain." Luckily for her, she had a few of them in her closet for those times she needed them when she met with FBI upper brass.

Sharon was content to sit at her desk for a few minutes, but only a few minutes. There were files glaring at her to be finished up, but she didn't have the will power to do them yet. Then something drew her attention, looking up from work that needed to get done on other cases, she saw Ricky and Rusty standing in the murder room holding bags of food. Sharon looked at the time display on her office phone seeing that it was well into the dinner hour. She quickly got up and headed out of her office.

Ricky had had a smile on his face when he and Rusty brought dinner for everyone knowing that his mom wouldn't be able to break away for the night. Then he came into the murder room and he saw Taeryn, her back to the room, conversing with Lt. Tao. He couldn't help but look at her, study her. She knew it too. When she straightened, looked at him, there was a warning in her gaze. He wasn't too sure that he'd be able to listen to it. This morning they'd had a moment and then she'd shut down in the blink of an eye. Try as he might, Ricky couldn't keep the anger going where she was concerned. He still loved her too much for that.

Taeryn had gone over to Lt. Tao's desk to see if he'd made head way with the laptop. So far he was through the hidden firewall and sifting through the information. Each file was more horrific than the last, and they were pictures to go along for show and tell. Then, like that, the mood in the murder room shifted and so did the smell. The scent of burgers filled the air. It was enough to make her turn. Though, the moment she did, she regretted it. Ricky was standing there looking disheveled and he was holding food. He was looking at her with, at least what she thought was pity in his eyes. She didn't want to deal with this, not here, and certainly not now. Excusing herself, Taeryn tried to make a fast getaway to the conference room where her equipment was still running.

"Here," Ricky blindly shoved the two bags he carried into Rusty's already overburdened arms to quickly follow after Taeryn. He knew he shouldn't, knew that the moment they were standing before the other they would start fighting, but still his feet carried him after her. Ricky needed to be in her orbit, he always had. She was gravity to him. Her brilliance, her certainty, the way she went about life without a care had inspired him.

Rusty managed to set everything down without spilling it just as Sharon came to stand next to him. "We thought it'd be a good idea to bring food." He said lightly watching Ricky head after Taeryn before he looked at Sharon. "Are you coming home?"

"Not until later," Sharon answered letting her squad take first crack at getting some food. "We've made some headway, but there is still a lot more to do before we head home." Beside her, Rusty turned to look at Stroh's picture on the board, suspect in bold red above. Tentatively she reached out her hand placing it on his shoulder. "We're going to get him." Rusty nodded, bringing his hand up to cover hers.

In the conference room Taeryn picked up her tablet, one of them anyway, and started some music. Then, to her left, she picked up another tablet that was linked to the smart boards. She needed to lose herself in the work, tune out everything, even Ricky. It was a matter of seconds before he came through the door, before they started yelling, and moments after that she was going to storm out. Taeryn might as well get a few search programs running while she had the peace and quiet.

Ricky stood watching Taeryn, seeing the way her fingers flew over the tablet in her hands. He'd almost forgotten how much he loved watching her work, the look on her face, and the way she furrowed her brow when she was thinking. Then from inside the music changed to play SAY SOMETHING from Pentatonix. Gritting his teeth, Ricky pushed open the door.

Taeryn kept her back to Ricky as he came through the door. She didn't want to have a fight, but she knew that's what was coming. It's what she deserved when she broke Ricky's heart by walking away from him. "If you're not going to yell at me, please leave. I have work to do."

"I didn't come to yell at you," Ricky said coming around the table. He wanted her to look at him but she wouldn't. "I just want to make sure you're alright." Since this morning, he hadn't been able to get the image of her scars out of his mind. All of his old feelings for her were coming back; stronger than before.

"I'm fine," Taeryn turned, setting the tablet on the table. "Am I supposed to be huddled in a ball in my apartment crying into a pillow after I showed you my scars? I'm not that girl." She said casually looking at him over her shoulder. Having Ricky this close was throwing off her concentration, making it impossible for her to remain detached.

"Don't do this, not here…" Ricky shook his head glancing back over his shoulder at everyone who were trying not to look at them. "I just want to check on you." He tried to keep calm.

"Do I look like I'm an emotional wreck at this moment?" Taeryn asked putting her hands on her hips. "I've been doing this long before the FBI caught me. Don't you dare…"

"Dare to what!?" Ricky shouted and then growled when he remembered where he was. "What? I can't still care about you even through you broke my heart by walking away?"

"No!" Taeryn replied raising her voice. Over and over she chanted, 'Stay cold. Stay cold.' Her body wasn't listening, her heart pounded furiously the closer Ricky came to her.

"Why not!" Ricky shouted in return. Why was she making this so hard for him, for them? When they had been together, they had burned hotter than the sun, they had been able to predict what the other was about to do, and they could just laugh no matter what. He wanted to have that again. He wanted her, and he never really stopped.

"You could do so much better than me." Taeryn closed her eyes not wanting him to see the tears gathering in her eyes. "I let you go…" She looked at him, her chest rising and falling. Ricky came closer to Taeryn, she pushed him away, but he tried again, and again she pushed him away, but he wouldn't let her keep pushing him away. This time, he got his arms around her. She fought for a few seconds and then buried her face in the crook of his heck. "Ricky…"

"It's ok…" Ricky held her close, one hand cupping the back of her head, and the other across her back. "There is no one better than you." He told her placing a light kiss to the top of her head. Holding her again had done much to heal the fractures in his heart that were left in the wake of her leaving. Every woman he'd dated since then hadn't managed to put the same life into him that Taeryn could. "You are the best thing to ever have happened to me."

Out in the squad room, Andy stood next to Sharon. "Should one of us get in there and break things up before a punch is thrown?" He joked. She looked at him, none too pleased with his humor. While the others were distracted, he placed his hand on the small of her back.

Sharon leaned back into Andy's touch. "I know they're not going to come to blows." She sighed, "I just hate seeing Ricky so conflicted. He's going to get hurt and I won't be able to stop it."

"Excuse me, I'm looking for Taeryn."

Sharon and Andy turned at the same time to see a stranger standing in the squad room. He was over 6'1, pale blonde hair down to his shoulders, sunglasses covering his eyes, dressed in black leather with a white t-shirt underneath. "Who are you?" Sharon asked with her eyebrow arched.

"I'm Dorian Gray." Dorian removed his sunglasses to greet the Captain eye to eye. "Taeryn texted me to come get her." He looked around the room not seeing his asset where she should be. "She forgot to mention she was freelancing for the LAPD." Dropping the persona he'd adopted, Dorian said, "Taeryn only continues to work for the FBI because I'm the buffer between them and her unique personality."

"That's got to be a hard job." Andy muttered.

"You've no idea." Dorian replied with a chuckle and then he removed his badge formt eh inside of his pocket. "Being Taeryn's handler is a full time job." He gave the Captain one of his dazzling smiles that he'd learned to use long ago.

"I can imagine." Sharon nodded. "She's helping with a case; tracking a fugitive that's been in hiding for three months. I know it wasn't proper protocol to borrow one of your asset's, but honestly I didn't know she was working for the FBI."

Dorian nodded sympathetically. "I hate to keep you any longer, or hold up your investigation, but I need my genius back. Don't worry, I'm only taking her out for the night, she'll be yours again tomorrow morning."

Andy cleared his throat, "She's a little busy right now, maybe you should come back in an hour."

"_YOU NEED TO FORGET ABOUT ME!_"

Everyone in the Major Crimes division looked towards the conference room as Taeryn burst through the door. One minute she was warm and safe in Ricky's arms and then the next she knew better to believe that it would last. What she did, how she lived, it would get others hurt. Ricky would get hurt. If she allowed herself to believe things could get better for them then she was an idiot. Leaving him at the airport had been for his own good, not for hers. Taeryn came up short when she saw Dorian standing next to Sharon. Then, as horrific as she knew it would be, she slipped into her hacker persona and walked straight to her handler. Without thinking about it, she gripped the front of his leather jacket and yanked him towards her. Taeryn kissed Dorian with all she had. If there was one thing she knew how to do besides hacking, it was lying like her life depended on it. To everyone else she was a woman who flirted with everyone, played both sides of the lines, and that's how she had to keep it. Dorian was the best way to keep Ricky at arm's length.


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary:** Sharon seeks out someone who can help locate Stroh.

**Disclaimer:** I own nothing of MAJOR CRIMES.

**Rating:** T

**Pairing:** Sharon and Andy

**SEEKING A HACKER:**

**THAT NIGHT:**

Sharon stood out on her terrace looking out at the city of angles from the 11th floor of her building. Inside her two sons were doing the dishes while they held a light conversation with Andy. She turned to watch them; the three main men in her life. Ricky, her oldest son getting along so well with his young brother. Rusty was finally in a place where he could belong, where he had a family; somewhere that was safe. Then there was Andy, the man she hadn't realized that she was falling in love with until it was too late and she'd fallen hard. He'd won her over with his smiles, his unique sense of humor, the way he could make silver linings seem better than they should. Andy was always at her side when she needed him the most.

Andy was laughing with Ricky and Rusty when he felt eyes on him. Turning his head he glanced at Sharon out on the terrace. She had this light, satisfied smile on her face that drew him out of the dining room until he was standing in front of her. The moment he was standing before her, he wanted to wrap his arms around her, to pull her close just so he could hold her. Andy had a moment to think before he gave in, his arms slipped around her. He brought Sharon in against him, kissed her lightly. She gasped from surprise and a few seconds later she draped her arms over his shoulder. Andy wasn't sure when it happened, but all he knew was that he was in love with Sharon, and he fell harder every day. How could he not? She was strong, beautiful, and amazing to behold.

In the kitchen, Ricky looked out at his mom and Flynn. They were kissing. He should feel strange about this after her mom's recent divorce from his two bit no good father, but he didn't. Leaning over, he asked Rusty, "How long has that been going on?"

"Huh?" Rusty glanced at Ricky and then in the direction of the balcony. Flynn and Sharon were kissing. "Oh, that…." He chuckled shaking his head. "Well, that's complicated. They've been 'dating'," Rusty did the quotation marks and to that Ricky chuckled. "For a little while, since maybe last year, but this…" He pointed to them outside, "Last three months, tops."

Ricky nodded. He focused on everything he could so he could put Taeryn out of his mind, put the sight of her kissing another man to the back burner. Truth be told, he was happy for his mother. "Well, she deserves some happiness with what's going on. And what about you? How's college life treating you little brother?"

"Pretty good," Rusty answered. "I made some friends in my sociology class and it's nice to be some place where people don't know what I used to do, or that I was a witness." He added glancing at Sharon and Flynn who now were standing close together, their foreheads touching. A small smile came to his lips seeing them.

Outside, Sharon touched her forehead to Andy's while taking small slow breaths. "What was that for?" She asked, a light laugh coloring her words. After the roller coaster that was this day, she was more than content to be held by him, to just breathe in as he breathed in. It was soothing and did much to help her decompress.

"I felt you needed a distraction." Andy replied angling his head to kiss her again, but just a touch of his lips to hers. Sharon gifted him with a light moan as her reply. "I hate seeing what this case is doing to you. It would be so much easier if Stroh got a bullet between the eyes."

"Andy…" Sharon scolded, shaking her head. "That's not justice, that's vengeance." She took a step back turning her gaze back to the cityscape before her. "But, Stroh in the ground is the only way Rusty is free from this forever." The words tasted awful in her mouth as she spoke them. She put her hands on the railings, fingers gripping the metal until her knuckles turned white. "Does that make me a bad person for wishing him dead?"

"No, Sharon, it makes you a mother protecting her son," Andy stepped up behind her wrapping his arms around her waist hugging her from behind. "It's just talk, Sharon. Even though all of us would be more than happy to end Stroh, we wouldn't. We'd put him back in prison and let him rot." He rested his chin on her shoulder where she angled her head and kissed his temple. "Do you really think your hacker can find him?"

Sharon rubbed the tip of her nose lightly against Andy's temple before kissing him lightly again. "Call me crazy," she turned in his embrace, "but yeah, I'm confident that she can locate him. All we have to do it put up with her antics until she does." Sharon wasn't sure how much longer Ricky could handle being around her. Looking over Andy's shoulder, she watched her two sons in the kitchen and found more of a reason to smile. Sharon gave her full attention back to Andy. "Stay tonight."

"You sure?" Andy asked not wanting to upset the family flow with her and Ricky.

"Yes," Sharon answered confidently.

Back in the kitchen Ricky looked at his cell. The dishes were done, in the dish washer, and Rusty was on the couch doing college work. His mom and Andy were still out on the terrace talking. Now was the time for him to get out of the condo for a few hours. Coming into the living room, he muttered to Rusty, "Hey, tell mom I'm going out for a bit."

Rusty looked up from his book, "Where you headed?" He asked setting the college text book on the coffee table. "Do you want some company?"

"Mom would kill me if I took you out of this condo." Ricky chuckled. "I'm just going for a drive. Gotta clear my head you know."

"Yeah…" Rusty picked up his book once more. "Can't be easy knowing that the girl you still love was having mouth sex with some other guy."

"Thanks for that little brother." Ricky mussed Rusty's hair before grabbing the car keys and heading out the door.

Across LA, Taeryn stood playing pool with a bunch of Chinese Triad bikers. They were small fish, fun to flirt with if only to get herself noticed by the one in charge. This little side job had nothing to do with Stroh, or with finding her parent's killer. This was for Dorian, a case he was having issues closing. When he couldn't get enough evidence, it was then and only then that he chose to use her. Now here she was hoping to catch the eye of the one in the driver's seat of this little crew.

Dorian watched Taeryn from his spot at the end of the bar. She was taking the bikers for all the money they had on them and a little more. It was all they could do not to pay attention to the way she nearly spilled out from the top of her corset. He found himself being drawn to her ever since the kiss she gave him in the precinct. It had been unexpected, but not entirely unwelcome. Dorian just hoped he wasn't being toyed with as she was known to do.

"Does that one belong to you?"

Dorian turned around to see George Tang, the man he'd brought Taeryn here to con and steal information from. "Not tonight." He answered over the din of the music.

"Then you wouldn't mind if I….?" George let the question hang in the air.

"Have at it she just walked in the door the same time I did is all. Though, I've heard she's been turning down men left and right all evening." Dorian replied and lifted his Corona bottle to his lips. Now is when he would truly get his money's worth in entertainment. Taeryn could get men to do anything she wanted while making them believe the idea was there's.

Taryn used her peripheral vision to spot her target walking towards her at the middle table she was currently ruling. She turned her attention back to the game, drew the stick back, hit the cue ball in just the right way, and the balls were rolling all over the table. The two ball hit the nine sending it into the back left corner pocket. "Kiss shot!" Taeryn exclaimed setting the stick on the table. With a smile and wink, she added, "Pay up, bitches!" Then men she had been playing were all hardened killers and drug smugglers with a little human trafficking thrown in, but the FBI couldn't prove it. They grinned, looked her up and down before setting the money she won down. "Another game?"

"We have no money left."

"How about you play me?" George said stripping out of his red leather jacket.

Taeryn smiled ruthlessly, "Gladly." She picked the pool stick up once more. "I hope you don't mind losing pretty little pants." She has to work hard to put the lust in her voice. All she could think about was Ricky. Casually her gaze fell on the clock. She had a little while more before her meeting with him. The show was for Dorian, for his mom, but mainly for Dorian who needed her to have a clear head.

George came to stand in front of the white woman, the pool hustler who had just stripped his men of all their money. In this bar, this domain, he took whatever he wanted, and with his looks women willingly gave themselves to him. Reaching out to her, he grabbed her leather clad backside, pulling her against him. "Just so long as you don't mind losing yours in return, though preferably we do this in my back office."

"Back up there…." Taeryn planted her hand on his chest. "Normal people would introduce themselves first before grabbing the other person's ass." To demonstrate her words, she reached behind her and took his wrist pulling his hand away. "Hi, I'm Crazy. You touch my ass again and you'll lose the use your hand from here on out. That'll put a damper on your love life." She knew she was stupid, with a little bit of a death wish thrown in, but no man grabbed her ass without her setting them straight.

"Apologies," George laughed. He liked it when woman resisted him, in the beginning at least. "I'm George Tang. Does crazy have an actual name?" He asked dazzling her with a smile he knew worked on woman no matter how tough they pretended to be.

"It's Bo." Taeryn answered. She always loved watching that sexy succubus on TV. "So, what should we play for? Money? Bikes? Drink?"

"How about your long lovely leather clad legs wrapped around my waist?" George countered.

Taeryn knew she needed to get to his computer, to hook up the flash drive and download the hard drive. "Then why wait for the game?" Tearyn teased. "Let's go now…." She took his hand but let him lead her towards the office.

**SHARON'S CONDO:**

Sharon listened to the silence of her condo. Rusty had gone to bed after finishing his reading for his class in the morning. Ricky had gone out for a drive and had yet to return. She wasn't sure if she liked him out and about LA, but he wasn't a target. Sitting on the edge of the bed she waited for Andy. He was changing into some clothes to sleep in. Sharon wasn't nervous about having Andy in her bed, she was nervous about the next morning. She wasn't sure how Ricky would react.

Andy stood in the open bathroom doorway watching her. This wasn't the first time he'd stayed over through the night, it wasn't even the first time he'd slept beside her, but it was the first time he'd done so while Ricky had been home. Cutting the light off, he came around the bed and sat next to her. Without saying a word, she leaned into him resting her head on his shoulder. Then, she got up to stand before him. Sharon cupped his chin smiling at him. "Time for bed?" Andy asked.

"Yes," Sharon answered gently. She moved away from him to go to her side of the bed where she pulled down the covers and climbed beneath them. With great relish she watched as Andy did the same, slipping beneath the covers on the left side. He settled down, stretching out his arm for her to snuggle in next to him which she quickly did. Sharon draped her arm across his stomach and pillowed her head on his chest.

Andy brought his arm around Sharon, his fingers immediately tangling in her hair. Here in this room he was free to breathe her in, to feel her against him. In this moment they were two people, not cops, not parents; they could be together. "This is the part of the day I love the most." Andy kissed the top of Sharon's head. "I get to be here with you."

Sharon propped herself up looking down at Andy, "Yeah?" He nodded bringing a smile from her. "Funny, my favorite time is when I see you walking into the murder room first thing in the morning and you have this little smile on your face." Sharon ran the tips of her fingers over his lips. "I love those few seconds before we have to change into the people who serve and protect."

"Then can I tell you something about the cop you are?" Andy teased lightly. "I love when you get authoritative, your hands on your hips, and that glare you get. You are a Captain that I am honored to serve under." When Sharon didn't say anything he continued, "Plus, I get a thrill out of watching you walk away when you're in one of those business skirts.

"Andy!" Sharon exclaimed, her cheeks flushing, but a smile curved her lips.

"What?" Andy laughed. "You've got great legs." All he could do was smile as he pulled Sharon back down against him.

**BIKER BAR:**

Taeryn sat on the edge of the desk in the office, her legs wrapped around the Triad Biker's waist. He kissed her, trying to dominate her, but she wasn't letting him. His hands cupped her, squeezing gently, kneading her pleasurably. She kept her hands tangling his shoulder length hair until he was thoroughly engrossed in her. As he moved his left and down, she did the same. While his hand made its trek towards the juncture of her thighs, she made hers towards the inside of her boot where a syringe waited to be used. His hand cupped her, applying pressure making her moan. Taeryn pulled out the syringe, pulled the top, and jabbed it in to George's hip, and pushed the plunger down quickly. He reacted to her, but the drugs acted faster. For a few long seconds, George hand his hands wrapped around her throat, but soon his grip loosened and he fell to the floor. "Oh gods…" she gasped out, rubbing her throat.

Taeryn slipped off the edge of the desk and nudged George with her foot. He was well and truly drugged. Good thing for her, he would be out of it for three hours. From within her leather jacket she pulled out a flash drive that would copy and then erase every ounce of data on this computer. She plugged it in, then waited for the program to do its work. Taeryn took a look around looking for a secret safe. "Bingo…" She whistled lightly seeing the one and only photo on the wall; a Chinese scroll.

"Really?" Taeryn rolled her eyes looking down at the dead weight at her feet. "Lame." She sighed. Taking a step over him, she rounded the desk and went to the scroll where she pulled it from the wall. There is was, a wall safe with a fingerprint scanner. The program had about five more minutes left on it, so she had time to try and crack the safe to see what money was inside. Pulling out her cell phone as well as a knife, Taeryn pried off the front plate where she hooked her phone up and started to wipe out the existing data in the locking mechanism. If she could reset it to factory default she could substitute her fingerprint and open the safe. Her phone beeped signaling she'd done what she wanted. Taeryn replaced the scanner and [placed her thumb to it. It registered her fingerprint, glowed green, and the door popped open.

"Yahtzee!" Taeryn laughed pulling out a few stacks of money. While being a hacker in service to the FBI she'd taken it upon herself to learn a new skill set; thieving. It had come in handy more than once, and she knew it would again. To her left there was a leather satchel that she shoved the cash into, a few important looking documents, and left the rest of it. She went back to the computer, her program was finished. Now it was time to disconnect and wipe the cameras. Taeryn executed a computer virus she'd left behind that would wipe out all the stored security camera footage for last three days just to be on the safe side.

With a light kick to the stomach, Taeryn gloated, "Nice thieving from you." She chuckled and then went to the window to make her escape. Landing on her feet behind the bar, Taeryn came around the building, pulled her helmet form the seat, and put it on. Straddling her bike, she turned the key, revved the engine, and sped out of the parking lot. Taeryn made her way through LA traffic until she was pulling into the private freight elevator that would take her all the way to her loft apartment.

Ricky didn't know what he was doing. His intentions had been to go to a bar, to have a few drinks, but instead he found himself parked outside her building, getting out of the car, and walking inside to go to her door. Once he was up there, he stopped with his fist raised, poised to knock. What was he doing? The right thing for him to do was to turn around and go back to his mom's condo, fall on the couch, and just go to sleep. Even as he knew that's what he should do, his feet wouldn't obey his mind's command. Ricky was firmly rooted to the spot in front of Taeryn's door. He made a deal with himself. If he knocked, and she didn't answer, then he would go home. He wasn't too sure what he would do if she was home and she opened the door for him. So, Ricky knocked.

Taeryn had just peeled off her boots when there was a knock at her front door. She knew it wouldn't be Dorian. He wouldn't come looking for the flash drive. Instinct had her grabbing her gun, illegal and unregistered, as she moved to the door. Tapping in a command to the video interface she saw Ricky standing outside her door. A smile came to her lips as she set the gun on the ledge high above her head. Taeryn opened the door, "What brings you here?"

Ricky stood still when the door opened. Seeing her there, in front of him; there was something that came over him. He took a step inside, close to her watching the way she watched him. As if he was someone else entirely, Ricky's hands cupped her face and his lips sealed to hers. He thought she would push him away, but she didn't. Her arms came over his shoulders forcing him to drop his hands down to the backs of her thighs. With ease he picked her up, her legs locked around his waist. Ricky held her securely in his arms and with a kick of his foot, he closed the door.

**THE NEXT MORNING:**

Rusty had gotten up a little earlier than normal so he could make breakfast for everyone. When he crept down the hall and into the living room, the couch was vacant. Ricky hadn't come home. Rusty wasn't sure if he should be worried or if he should get his phone and call until his brother picked up the phone. With a glance at the clock, seeing the time was just inching towards six am, he decided to wait. If it got to be 8 am, then, and only then Rusty would blow up Ricky's phone with calls and texts. Until then he was going to make breakfast before he had to get ready for classes.

A half hour later Sharon opened her eyes finding herself in the same position she had fallen asleep in. She was held lightly in Andy's arms with the covers pulled up around them. Sharon wished that it was still the weekend, that they didn't have to get up and go in to face the murder board with every false lead that revolved around Phillip Stroh. A groan escaped her then at the mere thought. All she wanted to do was to stay curled up in her bed, while Andy stayed with her. "I don't want to get up…" Sharon buried her face in the covers and in his chest to hide her eyes from the encroaching morning.

Andy had been awake for the last five minutes enjoying the feel of Sharon sleeping next to him and the steady rise of the morning sun outside her window. He had to chuckle when she groaned. "We could call in sick, but that would leave Provenza in charge for the whole day. Do you really want to do that to everyone?" Andy laughed when Sharon pulled the covers over her head.

"No…" Sharon replied pulling back the comforter. "We definitely don't want to do that." She placed a kiss to the space above his heart before sitting up. "I need coffee." Just as she was about to climb out of bed, Andy grabbed her, pulling her down for heated morning kiss. She melted into him, moaning in bliss. "Andy…" She bite her bottom lip lightly.

"I love it when you do that," Andy muttered bring his hands up to cup her face. He stole one more kiss before letting her go knowing that she was in need of caffeine. While Sharon headed out to the kitchen, Andy got up to get a shower and change into a suit he had hanging in her closet. That had been one thing to shock him, Sharon suggesting he have a change of clothes at her condo. It had been a good surprise, a welcome step in their new relationship.

Out in the kitchen Sharon saw Rusty cooking breakfast. Then she took a moment to look at the couch but Ricky wasn't there. "Rusty, did Ricky already leave?" She asked walking over to the freshly brewed coffee to pour herself a cup. Sharon didn't want to contemplate where her older son might be.

Rusty turned from the scrambled eggs he was making, "He was already gone when I got up. I don't think he came home." He had an inkling as to where his older brother might have been all night. The tension between Ricky and Taeryn was so thick that it would be cut with a knife. Rusty was willing to bet that Ricky had gone to her apartment. "Sharon, I think Ricky might have…."

"He's gone to see Taeryn. It's the only place he could be." Sharon sighed before taking a sip of her coffee. She hated that after all these years she was the reason Taeryn was back in Ricky's life after the way she'd left it years ago.

"You don't like her very much do you?" Rusty asked taking the skillet off the stove.

"It's not a question of me not liking her. Taeryn has this ability where she can read a person, instantly connecting with them." Sharon answered, "But the mother in me loathes the fact she tossed my son out of her life. For Ricky to go back to her…" Sharon shook her head setting the cup aside. There weren't enough words in the English language to describe what she was feeling at this moment.

"Would it really be so bad if Ricky and her got a second chance?" Rusty served up their food on three plates. He knew that Lt Flynn was still here, so there was enough for all of them.

"If she puts my son first this time." Sharon shrugged.

**TAERYN'S LOFT:**

Taeryn woke up warm and sated. There was weight on her waist, a hand resting over her abdomen. Then, in a flash, last night came back to her. She had just come home from a job, at least that's how she thought of those little excursions Dorian took her on to solve one of his cases, and then when she came home Ricky was at her front door. She hadn't expected for him to kiss her, to claim her mouth in total reckless abandon, and possess her all night long. He truly had not changed in that aspect, in the passion he still held for her; even with the tinge of anger to the way things started.

Slowly taking herself out of Ricky's hold, Taeryn got out of bed where she picked up his t-shirt to wear while she made them some breakfast. At least she would try if he didn't run right out the door first. Last night was wonderful and confusing, and like old times. She just hoped that things could get better between them. Taeryn stood by the coffee machine, started a fresh brew and then decided on something simple. Toast. Toast could be simple. Now, all she had to do was not burn the pieces of bread.

Ricky was almost unsure of his surroundings when the smell of fresh coffee pulled him from his sleep. The bed he was in wasn't his mother's couch, the sheets that covered him were made of crimson silk, and he was naked from head to toe. Last night he'd come here without much intent beyond that. Seeing her, dressed as she'd been dressed, he'd been taken to the past when he'd called her his. Last night he'd wanted to be with her despite all that he'd seen of her in the last two days. Ricky's heart hadn't completely let her go.

Getting up from the bed, he grabbed his jeans to put them on. Ricky headed down stairs where he saw Taeryn in her kitchen, in his shirt, rocketing him back to the past once more. She reminded him of morning s where she would be up before him, making him coffee and attempting not to burn the toast. Taeryn knew how to make coffee, but when it came to breakfast food, she was at a disadvantage. "I hope you're not burning the toast." Ricky joked.

Taeryn turned to him, "You wouldn't believe it, but I've gotten better at making toast." She laughed at his disbelieving look. Behind her the toast popped up, and only have of one side was burned. Getting the pieces on both plates, Taeryn went to the fridge. "Do you want butter or jelly?" Rather than wait for his answer she removed both. When she looked at him, Ricky had a particular look on his face. "Are you ok?"

"I don't know what happened last night," Ricky ran his hand through his mussed hair. "Last night I didn't intend to do… what we did." He said in a roundabout way. Though, last night was one of the best nights he'd had in a long while. Being with Taeryn brought back a part of his past he thought he'd let go of.

"I knew you were angry last night," Taeryn handed Ricky his plate. "At least for the beginning you were, then everything else was like it used to be." She patted his chest before leaving the kitchen to go the couch in her living room.

"You let me have angry sex with you?" Ricky asked, confusion ringing in his tone. "How did you know I wasn't going to hurt you? Did I hurt you?"

Taeryn sighed lightly, "Ricky, you didn't hurt me. I liked it. And, if you don't mind me saying, but needed to be angry with me to let off some steam." She set her toast aside getting up off the couch to stand in front of Ricky once more. "I'm not sorry last night happened. I needed it too after…"

"After what?" Ricky asked, concern rolling through him.

"I did a job for Dorian, for one of his cases." Taeryn answered. She needed to stop lying to at least one person in her life. "Seeing you outside my door, I knew I had to stop lying to you." She draped her arms over his shoulders.

"What do you mean? Lying about what?" Ricky asked.

Taeryn backed away, "I left you that day because I wanted to spare you the dark path I was going down. Ricky I have done some bad things, will do more bad things." She was coming clean to the one person that mattered to her the most. "I couldn't go with you that day because I was catching a plane to Georgia to follow a lead on the man who murdered my parents."

"Why couldn't you just tell me that?" Ricky dropped the plate on the kitchen counter, a loud clattering rang through the silence of the loft. "You could have told me."

"I couldn't." Taeryn defended. "You weren't over fond of my hacking back then and if I told you that's what I was going to do, I didn't think that you'd be all that supportive. Ricky, back then, I didn't trust anyone; not with something so damaging as being the survivor of a traumatic events."

Ricky covered his mouth with his hands. He recalled the first time he'd met her; she refused to look at him, refused to speak more than two words to him. It had taken him four more months before she would even go out for coffee with him. All this anger he had for that day not seemed stupid and pointless. There was nothing he could say to that. All he could do was look at her, the apology in his gaze.

"Ricky, I didn't tell you that to shame you, or to make you feel sorry for me. I got stronger with you, being with you." Taeryn went to him, cupped his face so he was looking at her. "But I don't want to lie to you anymore. I lie to too many people. You shouldn't be one of them."

"Then tell me what you've done." Ricky said.

"Where to start?" Taeryn chuckled. "But the confessions will have to come tonight. Gotta go be a genius for your mother."

"Then let me help." Ricky suggested. "I can help you sift through all the data, but leave the hacking to you."

Taeryn bit her bottom lip and furrowed her brow. "Talk to your mother."


End file.
